Whistling in Brooklyn

Whistling in Brooklyn is a 1943 film directed by S. Sylvan Simon and starring Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford, and Jean Rogers. It is the third and last film starring Skelton as radio personality and amateur detective Wally "The Fox" Benton, following Whistling in the Dark and Whistling in Dixie. Leo Durocher, then-manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, made his screen debut, playing himself, while Dodgers "superfan" Hilda Chester also made a brief appearance, playing herself.

Plot

Wally prepares to marry his girlfriend, but gets sidetracked when he is mistaken for a serial killer.

Cast

Red Skelton as Wally Benton
Ann Rutherford as Carol Lambert
Jean Rogers as Jean Pringle
Rags Ragland as Chester Conway
Ray Collins as Grover Kendall
Henry O'Neill as Inspector Holcomb
William Frawley as Detective Ramsey
Sam Levene as Creeper
Arthur Space as Detective MacKenzie
Robert Emmett O'Connor as Detective Leo Finnigan
Steve Geray as Whitey
Howard Freeman as Steve Conlon
Mike Mazurki as thug
Lillian Yarbo as Maid
Dorothy Wilson as Radio Quartette Member

Production

Filming at Ebbets Field took place in early April 1943, before the Dodgers’ season opener on 21 April. The several hundred extras were “shivering in their seats,” each paid $5.50 unless they had a line of dialogue—meaning $25 for a day’s work.

Reception

The New York Times wrote: “The high-jinks start when Red’s mutton-headed man Friday tips off the police that The Fox is actually the desperate criminal who brags about his crimes in the letters-to-the-editor column using the appellation ‘Constant Reader.’ Well, one complication leads to another and The Fox is being pursued both by the police and the real killer all over Brooklyn, through a vacant warehouse, Ebbets Field and finally down along the waterfront for a slam-bang slapstick climax in the galley of an abandoned ship. Some of the doings are mildly amusing, but most are just plain nonsense....Better luck next time, folks!”